A Different Start
by Ottawa gal
Summary: - On Hold - What change could one little difference make? What if Draco was taken in by Snape just before the start of Hogwarts? How does this change the lives of the boy who lived, Granger, Ron, the Professors, and the Entire Wizarding World?
1. In the Beginning, there was Green Light…

Chapter 1 – In the Beginning, there was Green Light….

The little boy in green stared up at the ceiling, his shining green eyes sparkling with laughter as his mother looked down at him, cradled in her arms. She gently laid him down on the velvet cushions her mother made for little Harry. Lily leaned in and kissed the chubby little child, just over a year old.

"Happy Halloween, little one" she whispered at him. He cooed back at her, his little fist grabbing a handful of her reddish curls. She smiled at him, took both his hands in hers and stared at him with identical eyes.

She turned to leave, and heard a shout from her Husband. Her eyes widened in shock, realizing that the day has come, that He-who-must-not-be-named, was here, had found them, how did they find them? She rushed over to Harry, taking her wand out at the same time. Harry's bright eyes watch his mother, not knowing that anything was wrong, but feeling the anxiety his mother held.

Lily made her way to the window, but turned to the door as a green light flashed through the door hinges. Lily started shouting off charms through the room, hoping something would work to keep him away, keep little Harry safe. What of James? Was that green light…

Lily's thoughts were interrupted as the door slammed against the wall, and in its place stood a man dressed in a black cloak, his dark eyes staring victoriously towards Harry.

"Move out of the way", he said calmly.

"Don't take Harry!" she yelled.

Harry started to squirm in her arms, but was dropped to the carpet roughly as his mother erupted in green light. Still a little dazed from the fall, Harry crawled to his mother, then turned towards the advancing man, gripping her white sweater.

Harry started crying as the man pointed his wand at the boy, and with eyes blazing with triumph, he muttered the words "Avada Kadavra "


	2. Taking Draco

Chapter 2 – Taking Draco

…Ten years later…

Severus pushed the wooden door open with his arm, holding his wand in front of him as he entered into the dark hallway. He stepped his way around the mansion, his many years of working for both He-who-can-not-be-named and Dumbledore making it easy for him to glide through without alerting anyone, not even the protective house elves.

He made his way down the hall on the second floor, towards the room on the left of the master's bedroom. The door was ajar and some moon light escaped through the window in the room, through the door entrance, illuminating the portrait of some stiff-sitting man sleeping upright in the painting, clearly of Malfoy blood. Severus pushed the door inwards slowly, surveying the room for the child he was looking for. Empty.

He waited a moment, knowing that his time was limited. Lucius and Narcissa would be returning from the function at any moment. The Aurors were on alert and were waiting for Albus' signal before swarming the house, hopefully gathering enough evidence to put Lucius away until his Godson was old enough to protect himself, but until then, Draco would be safe in Severus' care. Severus felt his jaw tightening as he recalled some of the damage Malfoy senior did to his son in the past. At only the young age of 10, the boy was already dealing with the repercussions from the many beatings from Lucius. Unfortunately, those weren't the worst of it. The brainwashing that the man had put his son through… was there still enough time in the child's life to change the things already done?

Severus' gaze went to the closet doorway as he heard a muffled sound. He walked swiftly over the cold marble flooring towards the sound, a whimpering. He lowered himself to the ground, and opened the door slowly, staying still has the little boy crawled further into the darkness. Severus muttered a few reassuring words to the little boy as he advanced, watching in horror as the bruises on the boy appeared as his wand's light revealed the blond boy. Severus pulled the boy to his chest, and held him. Draco pushed away for a few minutes before finally giving in and grabbing Severus tightly, sobs emitting from his shivering body.

The Malfoys were going to be returning soon, so Severus casted a silencing charm on his cloak, and closed it over the beaten boy that he held to his chest. He hurried downstairs, and leaned into a corner as he saw light from the door.

"Come now Narcissa, what was I to do" drawled the older man, removing his jacket as a house elf appeared and started removing his shoes. Another house elf appeared, and took the jackets from the pair, and scattered low to the ground as they hurried to put their owner's things away.

"You should have spoken up" the blond woman answered sharply, "You should have started to draw the death eater's together again! He's not coming back! We have to do this without him!"

"He Will Come Back!" shouted Lucius, his fist flying out against Narcissa's pale face.

"I Hate you after These Meetings!" she shouted back, tears crawling down her face.

"These meetings will continue until he has come back" Lucius hissed. Turning, he made his way upstairs.

Narcissa stood there for a few minutes, then asked one of the house elves to set tea up for her in the drawing room. She walked, stumbling slightly from the hit, and made her way down the hall Severus stood in.

And She walked right by them.

Severus let out a breath, then hurried to the front door, and opened it with his wand still in his hand. Only a few minutes until Lucius would decide to take out his anger on his son, and realize Draco was not there…

The breeze of the night cooled his face as he closed the door silently, then descended the steps towards the apparition point ten feet away.

A minute later, Severus could hear Lucius cursing from the mansion. A loud pop echoed in the clearing as the two disappeared.


	3. Meeting a friend

The bright shinny doors of the shop flashed blinding light into eleven year old Harry's eyes as he walked forward. Hagrid told Harry to go ahead and purchase his robes for school, so Harry tentatively walked in. Rows and rows of different colored robes and cloaks were hanging from thin air on the sides of the store, with dusters' sweeping the ceiling above him.

Harry took a few more steps forward then poked around the curtain in the back. Standing on the stool was a boy Harry's age, with blond platinum hair, pale skin. A thin woman was pinning and shortening the robe on him. Off on the side, Harry could see another pale man, dressed all in black, his black hair covering his face.

Harry pushed the curtain out of his way, and made his way over to the tired looking man to ask him a question about where to get his school clothes. The boy on the stool jumped down, startling the woman.

"Hi, I am Draco Ma… Snape, and you are?" he asked, his white eye brow up in amusement as he took in the oversized faded blue sweater Harry was wearing. His pants were barely visible since the sweater made its way downwards towards his knees.

"I'm Harry, Harry Potter" he answered, watching the boy look back at him in disbelief.

"Yeah, and I'm Merlin himself, you look so shabby, let me guess, you're a mudblood."

"Draco" reprimanded the man from the side, whose dark eyes stared at Draco.

"A what?" Asked Harry confused, as the man in the corner stood up.

"Sorry, wrong word" Draco muttered, a blush growing on his cheek as he quickly looked over at who Harry assumed was his father, 'where else would he get such pale skin?'

"A … Muggle born, that means your parents weren't wizards." Draco stated matter-of-factly, as he jumped back on the stool. The lady tutted disapprovingly but continued altering the robes Draco wore.

"Well, my parents were wizards" answered Harry, remembering what Hagrid told him, "but I grew up with my Aunt and Uncle, they weren't wizards. I didn't' know I was a wizard until a few days ago actually."

"Well then, Harry… I'll call you Harry, because you can't be going around calling yourself Harry Potter, people will get the wrong impression of you." Muttered Draco, as he removed the robe over his head, and placed it on a table.

"Why shouldn't people know I'm Harry Potter?" Harry asked curiously.

"Because then people will associate you with the stuck up _Savior of the Wizarding world_ snob who has everything and doesn't even have respect enough to show himself to the wizarding world, he just sits at home, everything handed to him for free, a spoiled little brat!" Draco ended venomously.

"Well, that's definitely not me, even my clothes are hand me downs" muttered Harry.

"Yeah, it will be awful, having the same name as Him, but we'll work on that. And your clothes" muttered Draco, who was now picking at some hole in the sweater on harry's shoulder, "we'll have to do something about that, won't we?" he asked, looking up at the dark haired man.

"I suppose" smirked the man, "but I assume that this will be taken out of your allowance?"

"My… Allowance?" asked Draco confused, "But, look at him! He clearly needs new clothes, how he even shows his face is a wonder!" Harry blushed red in embarrassment, and bit his lip.

"Please Severus! I need my Allowance, how else am I going to survive Hogwarts?"

"Stop whining Draco." Commanded the Severus, taking a good look at Harry. Harry backed up against the wall slowly, becoming frightened as the dark eyes took him in.

"Oh, don't be scared of Severus!" Laughed Draco, taking Harry's arm, "he's really a big softly!"

Harry watched Severus' eyes narrow at Draco, then focus back on Harry. Harry stared back at the blank eyes, wishing he could tell what the man was thinking, like he could the Dursley's. Just one glance at them and Harry could tell if they were mad at him, ignoring him, or happy about something (which usually meant they forgotten about him).

Just as he was about to panic, and run out of the store, Severus stood up and walked over to the two boys.

"It would seem, Harry, that you are indeed in need of some appropriate clothing. I would assume you are admitted to a Wizarding school?"

"Yes, sir" stuttered Harry, backing behind Draco, "Hogwarts" he whispered.

"Then we will gather something for you for now, and Madamme Hawkings will take your measurements and gather some robes and decent attire for you to be delivered to you promptly."

Harry was lead to the stool and stood there, as Draco started chatting away about Hogwarts and Wizards. Harry listened as Madamme Hawkings took his measurements, and placed a robe over his head.

"I have money" blurted Harry. Severus and Draco both looked up to him bewildered. "Look, I just go this from the bank, and if it isn't enough, I can get more! I don't need you to buy things for me, I just need help picking things out, I never went shopping before" said Harry hastily, his voice dwindling as he finished talking. He threw his raggedy bag of money into Draco's hands. Draco opened the bag up, and whistled.

"Wow Harry, all this and you've never gone shopping before?" Draco asked, looking very impressed. "That will be more then enough for a whole new wardrobe!"

"And if what you are wearing is anything to go by" sneered Severus, "then you clearly will be needing it" Severus walked out into the other room and returned a moment later with some folded dark clothing.

"Here" said Severus, looking down at Harry, "You will wear these, and there is another set of clothing for you to have until school starts. I expect you to appear to Hogwarts wearing one of the two, understand?"

"Yes sir" Harry replied meekly. Severus sighed.

"Since we are not at Hogwarts yet, you may refer to me as Severus. But once we are there, you may only refer to me as Professor Snape, or Sir, unless we are in private company.

"Yes… Severus." Harry smiled up at the dark haired man, wondering what it would be like, with him as a teacher. All the teachers at the other schools merely ignored him. Harry was getting really excited about Hogwarts, it would be so different then his other schools.

Harry hopped off the stool and grabbed his bag of clothes. "Thanks Draco! I will see you at Hogwarts right?"

"Yeah, on the Hogwart's express." Draco looked at Harry funnily, then bursted out laughing.

"And here I thought I wouldn't have any friends at School! I have so much to teach you!" Draco's eyes lit up as he watched Harry leaving the store in his new clothes.

Severus waited outside the store as Draco finished up with his purchases, watching as Harry met the oaf Hagrid from Hogwarts. Clearly, this is not the renown Harry Potter, but Severus knew Dumbledore sent Hagrid to retrieve him…

Severus ran his thin hand through his hair in thought, and continued on his way with a chatty Draco. At least Draco was smiling, something he hasn't done much of in the last year. Severus watched Draco smirk at something in the window, and wearily thought 'This year is going to be interesting'


	4. The Weasley Clan

Harry waited nervously at the train station until he was sure his uncle was gone. He didn't have to wait long before he could no longer see the smoke trailing his uncle's car as Vernon speed away. Harry rushed towards a washroom and quickly started stripping off the tattered yellow sweater he wore and reached into his bag for his clean shirt when he heard the water running behind him.

Harry quickly ran towards a stall, not wanting anyone to see him, as his skin was filthy from gardening all day yesterday. His aunt and Uncle decided he didn't need a shower; that the people at his new school should see him for what he really was.

He almost made it when he crashed into something that smelt like peppermint. He looked up from the ground to see a friendly face reaching down for him.

"Up you go mate!" said the boy in front of him.

"What were you running away to hide from?" answered a voice from behind him. Harry twisted around quickly to see the same boy he was staring at. He glanced quickly at the two of them, and realized they were twins.

"I'm George Weasley, and that bloke there is Fred" said the red head near the sink. He picked up Harry's bag and noticed the Hogwarts letter of invitation on the top.

"Oy! So you are a Hogwarts student too! Must be your first year." Said George, passing the grocery bag filled with Harry's stuff forward.

"Here, this is a nifty spell we learned in our first year, it helped us keep out of trouble with our mom" winked Fred, as he whisked out his wand and muttered "Cleanso" over Harry's body.

Harry blushed, and thanked the two while pulling out his new clothes that he received from Severus out of a bag. He left the two boys and entered a stall, getting changed quickly.

After Harry made sure he looked all right in the mirrors (and that his scar was still hidden), he exited the bathroom to find the two twins waiting outside in the hall.

"Hey, so what's your name, little lad?" asked one of the twins cheerfully.

"Harry, it's Harry." He replied quietly.

"Well Harry, ol' mate, where are your parents?" asked the other twin, looking around at the crowd.

"Um, well, my uncle dropped me off and…" trailed off Harry.

"Hmm, I see, had somewhere to go?" asked the twin leaning against the wall. Seeing Harry nod, he continued, "well, first years usually have a problem finding the platform, and, you're a muggle-born right? I could tell from the clothes you arrived in, pretty funny looking styles 'em muggles have, if you ask me"

"Not that he was," replied the other twin, elbowing his brother in the side, "but do you need help finding the way?" he asked, dodging his brother as he tried to retaliate with a hit in the side.

"Oy, George, stop!" laughed Fred, as George caught him and started tickling him. Harry laughed out loud as they continued tickling each other, rolling on the ground as a crowd grew around them.

"George and Fred Weasley! Stop that This Instant!" yelled a plump woman with wild red hair. The two twins stood up quickly, patted each other's hair down as if flattening it, and replied simultaneously "Yes Mother!"

"Now you know we don't have long till the train leaves, now hurry up and bring Ron, we have to hurry!" said the Woman exasperatedly. She lead the way with a few other red heads following her, who Harry assumed where more of her children.

Harry looked up at one of the twins as he grabbed Harry's hand and winked at him. Harry followed the two twins towards another red-headed boy with food on his face, and the four of them quickly caught up with the mother. Harry stared in awe as two of the red heads walked through the wall between platform 9 and 10.

"Now, Harry, Pay attention," lectured the twin who let go of his hand. "Now watch little icky Ronny here as he goes through the wall." Ron groaned at his brother as he pushed his trolley through the wall. "Now, just make sure no one is watching, and head on in!"

Harry walked towards the wall, and eyed it nervously. He glanced at the twin who gave his instructions, and looked towards the very solid looking wall apprehensively.

"Now Harry, Don't think of it!" laughed the other twin, grabbing Harry around the waist and throwing him through the wall. Harry tensed up his body and watched in horror as he hit the wall… to find himself face down on the ground instead.

One of the twins walked in, and laughed at Harry, offering him a hand up. The other one followed with a packed full trolley following him.

Harry watched as the woman wished her children well, and noticed a little red headed girl at the mother's side, looking distressed.

"Oh, don't worry about Ginny; she'll be attending Hogwarts next year. Now come on, we have to find a place to pack everything" said one of the twins mischievously.

Harry looked around the platform for Draco, but didn't' see him or Severus. Harry hoped he was already on the train, and watched the twins say good bye to their family, and pushed both Ron and Harry onto the train and into an empty compartment.

"Now, you two youngsters, Behave, while we go look for our other friends"

"I am Not a youngster!" retorted Ron, who had his arms crossed in front of him, and was pouting.

"Right, and I'm not George" the twin retorted.

"But," asked Harry confused, "You're not George… Right?"

"By Jolly, you can tell us apart?" asked Fred, looking with awe at Harry.

"Well, you are twins but even twins have slight differences, I just had to find them," answered Harry shyly. Harry hated how he was so easily embarrassed so he tried to hide it by turning swiftly into his seat and pulling out a book.

The two twins started laughing loudly and clipped Harry on the shoulder before heading out of the compartment.

Ron lowered his head into his hands and started groaning.

"Are you ok?" asked Harry curiously, noticing what looked like chocolate on Ron's hands being transferred into his hair.

"Yeah, if you call going to school with those two who will prank you all at every possible moment Ok" answered Ron sourly. Harry didn't' actually see anything wrong with that, but decided to let Ron dwell on it by himself for a while, and looked at the book he opened. It was the one he wasn't able to finish out of all his school books. He hid them under his bed because he was afraid of what his uncle might do to them, remembering how his uncle liked to burn his tests and books from elementary school when Vernon got mad at Harry.

Harry kept reading and didn't notice Ron much as Ron stared moodily out the window. He put his book down.

"Ron, I'm going to look around the train, is it ok if I leave my stuff here with you?" Harry asked.

"Fine, sure, what ever" muttered Ron. Harry wondered how someone could dwell on something so long. He would have loved to have brothers like that at school, or just in his life, but maybe they annoyed Ron as much as Dudley annoyed him, but Harry didn't' think so. Neither of the boys pinched, punched nor hit Ron since he saw them, but then again, maybe they don't do that when people were around. Harry decided to keep an eye on the twins to make sure they didn't' do any of that to Ron, though they didn't look like the type that would hurt someone just for fun…

Harry walked around the train, and heard lots of people talking about a Harry Potter who was suppose to be on the train. He bit his lip, and reminded himself not to let anyone know who he was. By the time he returned to his compartment and Ron, his stomach was in knots. He hadn't found Draco anywhere on the train, and listening to everyone talk about Harry Potter was a bit disturbing, since he was pretty sure that he was the only one… Hagrid had told Harry that he was Famous, but if he just makes sure people think he has the same name…Harry jumped as a girl with bushy brown hair opened the compartment door.

"Have either of you seen a toad? A boy named Neville lost his and we can't find it anywhere." She asked.

"Do you see a toad anywhere?" asked Ron bitterly. "Unless I accidentally thought it was a chocolate frog… I ate one of those"

"You did?" stuttered a voice from behind Hermione.

"Don't worry Neville, he would have noticed if it wasn't chocolate" she said kindly, while staring angrily at Ron. Ron just rolled his eyes.

"I didn't see one either" answered Harry as Hermione turned her angry gaze at him.

"I see, well, if you do, come find Neville or me, my name is Hermione Granger, we're three doors down" Harry nodded at the girl. "And you know" she said, turning to Ron, "You have something on your face, right here" she indicated disgustedly before turning and marching out. Harry watched Ron as he wiped his hand over his face, smearing the chocolate even worse.

Harry remembered that he had to leave his owl with Severus; he was worried about how his family would react; they didn't' act too kindly to animals. He was going to ask Hagrid to take care of her but he always chickened out. He didn't' want Hagrid to think he didn't' like his new bird. So when he was at the leaky Cauldron, he saw Severus. Later that night, on Severus' advice, he sent the owl away to Severus' and Draco's home with a command to come see him once he started school.

Harry was about to get up and start looking for the toad when Ron spoke up. "So what's your name anyways? I'm Ron"

"My name is Harry. What's that in the cage?" asked Harry quickly, hoping to draw Ron away from his name.

"Oh, this is Scabbers, do you want to play with him?" asked Ron, who handed him over. Harry looked at the rat. He was very weak looking and some of its fur was missing, leaving bald spots over the rat's pudgy body.

"He doesn't look to playful..." said Harry.

"Yeah, I know. Hey do you play Quidditch?" asked Ron taking Scabbers back. The two boys spent the remainder of the trip talking about Quidditch.

When they arrived at the end, and exited the train, it started to pour out. Harry recognized Hagrid's voice calling over all the first years, and lead Ron there. Hagrid grinned down at Harry, and helped the first years to the boats. Harry looked around, but couldn't see Draco anywhere. It was so dark that Harry wondered if maybe he was on one of the other boats.

Once they arrived to Hogwarts, Harry and the others were rushed inside. Harry was amazed at the castle, and decided to come back out in the next few days and take a better look at it. He grinned as he spotted Draco by a stern looking teacher. Draco looked towards Harry and smirked.

Professor McGonagall gave them a speech, and then told them to wait. Draco walked up to Harry and was about to speak when Ron interrupted.

"Malfoy?" he asked incredulously. "What do you want?" he sneered. Draco looked repulsed, and his eyes flashed angrily towards Harry.

"Draco!" Harry said, putting his hands up defensively. "Come on, let's wait over here" he said, walking up to Draco and dragging him to the back of the group.

"What were you doing with him!" sneered Draco to Harry.

"So I have to ask you who I want to be friends with!" replied Harry hotly.

"No, but I thought you had better sense then Him!" replied Draco, looking hurt.

"Look, we met on the train, I barely know him. Don't worry, I wouldn't' be friends with some one who hates you." Replied Harry softly, looking intently at Draco's grey eyes. Draco stood there looking at Harry uneasily, then relaxed punched Harry in the shoulder.

"Oww!" Harry glared at Draco

"Well, aren't you going to ask my why I wasn't on the train?" he asked smugly.

"No"

"… What?" Asked Draco confused. "Don't' you want to know where I was?"

"No, not really" grinned Harry. Harry laughed at the bewildered look on Draco's face.

"Fine" pouted Draco.

"Ok, tell me, where was little ol' Draco?" asked Harry, remembering how the twins referred to him.

"I am Not Little! And I was here, so there!" replied Draco hotly, before turning from Harry and ignoring him until the sorting. Harry laughed at Draco and started poking him until Draco looked back irritated at him, but after a stern glare from professor McGonagall, he stopped.

Draco looked at him arrogantly. Harry just shrugged his shoulders and followed him into the great hall.

All above them, candles floated and the sky crackled with lightning from the rain storm outside. Harry's jaw dropped as he took in all the students, the ghosts, and the professors. Harry was relieved to see Severus sitting at the high tables, peering down at him and Draco. Harry smiled, and Severus nodded in response.

Harry watched Draco go up and get sorted into Slytherin. And he also watched as Ron went up and got into Gryffindor. Ron sat down by his brothers, looking very relieved.

Draco just sat by himself at the Slytherin table, waiting patiently for Harry to be sorted. 'Right, so Draco said to get sorted into Slytherin or if I can't do that, then Ravenclaw' Harry reminded himself. But then again, did he want to be a Slytherin? They don't' look very cheerful, he thought, looking at the group. He looked over at the Gryffindor table and saw the two red heads whispering to a brown boy, who was laughing silently. 'Where do I want to go?' he thought.

"Harry Potter!" yelled out Professor McGonagall. Harry looked around and noticed how still everything was. The entire school body stared at the first years that waited to be sorted, and it freaked Harry out. He waited a minute to see if any other student stepped forward, but he knew he was the only one, the one they all spoke of on the train… the one Draco didn't like.

"Is there a Harry Potter!" asked professor McGonagall, who was staring right at Harry. He timidly walked forward, and sat on the three legged stool. He closed his eyes as the hat landed on his head, covering his eyes and ears.

"Ah, Harry Potter, it has been a while since I saw a potter at Hogwarts!" said a voice from around Harry. Harry opened his eyes, but all he could see was the brown lining of the hat.

"Now, where should we sort you today?"


End file.
